The Dangers of Childhood
by Shrew-hanyou
Summary: Ignoring the manga and the fact it never comes up in the anime, a childhood story!. First of many maybe and who do they star?. Not Ed, Al and Winry!. Nope, none other then Maes Hughes, Riza Hawkeye and Roy Mustang.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist

Notes: First off, Batball equals Baseball. And Roy is half-Xingese because... damn, Roy is the only one in the anime who looks asian, so there must be a reason.

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"Look at this ball and bat I got from my dad for my birthday" gloated a twelve year old Maes, grinning like a twit as he waved the ball in his younger friend Roy's face, bat resting in his other hand. The half-xingese looked at the ball with a gleam in his charcoal eyes and reached for it just as Maes snatched it out of his reach. "Nu-uh, this isn't a baby toy, it's only for kids only ten to play with".

Roy felt his jaw drop a little as he stared at Maes, reaching for the ball again as Riza climbed to her feet, setting her doll aside next to the book Roy had abandoned a couple hours agos while he played and they waited for Maes to get out of his birthday party required by his family. "Maaaes" the eight year old boy whined as the older boy held it above his head.

"I said no, this isn't a baby toy" Maes said with a grin as he waved it.

"But that's not nice Maes" Riza complained, crossing her arms across the front of her dress.

"Sure it is, you two are baaaabies" he said and stuck his tounge out for a moment.

"Does that mean we can't play batball with your new ball and bat?" Roy asked.

"Heck no!. I'll play batball with you two, but not with my new stuff, I don't want to get it dirty" the older boy said and turned to go back inside for a little while after his mother yelled, "Tell you kiddies what, you get a ball and a bat and we'll play later"

v-v-v

"Are you sure this is a good idea Roy?" the eight year old Riza said worriedly as she watched him dig through a pile of lead pipes his dad had thrown out yesterday.

"Sure it is, a pipe's just as good as a wooden bat right?" he reasoned and when he got to arguement, he grabbed a certain pipe, tossing it towards Riza who caught it with a yelp. As she glared at him for 'attacking' her, but not really getting upset about it, Roy found a rather rounded rock and held it up. "Does this look the size of a batball ball?" he asked her and she nodded silently, "Great!" he added as he handed her the rock, digging through the trash pile for a peice of cloth and a string.

"Roy..." she said and fell silent again as he snatched the rock from her and tied it up in the cloth he'd found with the string.

"See, now Maes'll play batball with us and not call us babies" he said proudly as she grinned as he grabbed her free hand and dragged her towards the Hughes house.

v-v-v

"Maaaaes!" Roy cried as he stood outside one of the better houses in town later that afternoon, hands cupped around his mouth as he called for his older friend, 'bat' and 'ball' in Riza's hands as he took a breath to yell again. The frontdoor however opened and Maes scampered out, Mrs. Hughes sending Roy a disapproving look. Shooting Mrs. Hughes a peace-sign, Roy held his 'ball' out for Maes' inspection as the older boy reached he and Riza.

"It feels a little heavy to be a ball, but I guess it'll work" Maes said and made a face at the pipe, "A pipe?"

"It's the same shape as a bat and it can hit our ball" Roy protested as he pouted momentarily.

"Whatever, let's go play us some batball!"

v-v-v

"Riza, you have to hit the ball, not be afraid of it" Maes said, putting his hands on his hips as he glared lightly at his younger friend, then sighed, "Come on, it's my turn at bat". He gestured with a jerk of his thumb at Roy to take the pitcher's mound (Riza couldn't throw to save her life sometimes) as he walked over, taking the pipe Riza held out to him. Roy picked up the 'ball' and scampered over to the pitcher's mound while Riza moved over to the bench to watch and Maes took the plate, holding the pipe like one held a bat. "Bring it on!" Maes exclaimed cheerfully, flashing a grin.

"Alright!" Roy said, drawing his arm back and letting the 'ball' sail through the air and connected with a THUNK!.

Both eight year olds blinked and stared at Maes as he wavered on his feet for a moment after getting pegged square in the forehead with the 'ball' before falling over on his side. They were silent as they edged over to stand above him. Then they looked at each other and broke into a singing chant of "You got hit, you got hit" until Riza stopped and poked Maes with her foot, expecting him to growl at them for hitting him.

But no such answer came and both paled a little as they looked at each other again. "We killed him Roy" Riza whispered in horror and Roy swallowed.

"We need to get rid of the body" he whispered back and she looked at him in horror.

"Roy..."

"We can't leave him here to found, we'll get in trouble"

"Yeah..."

"So let's just take him to the ditch in the forest"

"Alright" Riza said reluctantly.

v-v-v

The two looked down at the 'body' of their friend in the ditch and then at each other. "Maybe we should cover him a little" Roy suggested as he crouched down, shoving leaves and sticks into the ditch over Maes'. Pleased with his handy work, he looked over at Riza and nodded. "We can't tell nobody, specially my mom, she'll get mad and ground me"

"We're still gonna get in trouble, what about Mrs. Hughes?"

"We can't tell nobody" he repeated firmly as he grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the forest and away from the ditch and the 'body' of their friend.

v-v-v

Riza was over at Roy's house later that night after the sun had set when the doorbell rang, Mrs. Mustang setting down her sewing and getting to her feet, smoothing her dress and answered the door. Neither child could see the door, but they could hear the conversation.

"Ahh... Ellen, what pleasure do I owe this visit to?" Roy's mother asked. Both paled a little, it was Maes's mom.

"No pleasure Aiko, I came to question if you knew where my wayward son has gotten to. I haven't seen Maes sense he ran off earlier with your son and Riza" Mrs. Hughes answered.

"You can't find Maes?" they heard Roy's mother question and the two eight year olds gulped silently as the conversation continued, seeming to be steering towards questioning them.

"Come on Riza, we have to hide him better" Roy whispered as he pulled Riza out the backdoor of his house as they heard his mother call out "Roy!. Can you come here and bring Riza"

"We're gonna get in so much trouble" Riza moaned as the two vanished into the darkness, ignoring Roy's mother yelling for them to come here.

v-v-v

Why did his head hurt and why was he laying in a ditch?. Maes moaned lightly to himself as he brought a hand up to his forehead and finally opened his eyes. It was night!. When had that happened?. Last thing he remembered was playing batball with Roy and Riza. Moaning lightly again, he clambered shakily to his feet and climbed out of the ditch.

v-v-v

It was too dark to see and neither had thought to grab some means of light before they'd run off to hide the body better, so they couldn't even find the ditch. But they could find the town, they knew that, they could see lights burning in the distance behind them. "Roy, let's go back" Riza said, clutching at his arm and he was about to shake his head when he heard a snapping of a twig.

"Who's out there?" he called softly and was answered by silence followed by a voice.

"Roy?. Riza?. Is that you?". It was Maes's voice and both younger kids paled before turning on their heels with a scream, running as fast as they could away from the dazed twelve year old.

v-v-v

"HE'S A ZOMBIE!" both screeched as they flew back into town, crashing into Roy's mother Aiko as they did so, Ellen Hughes standing just behind her as well as Riza's mother Judith Hawkeye. All three mothers were startled by the sudden apperence of two of the children they were searching for and screaming on top of that.

"Who's a zombie?" Judith asked kindly, crouching down infront of her daughter and daughter's friend, but that only started the tears from both of them and babbling.

"We didn't mean to kill him!". "We're really sorry!". "Please don't get mad at us!". "We didn't know he'd come back as a zombie!" among the things understandable, most of it not.

"Who didn't you mean to kill?" Ellen said harshly and Judith glared lightly at her.

"Maes!" both Riza and Roy wailed.

The name stunned the mothers in silence. Ellen looked ready to yell as shuffling footsteps caught their attention behind the two bawling eight year olds. "My head hurts" Maes complained, covered in dirt and leaves and such, a massive bruise on his forehead and looking exhuasted.

"ZOMBIE!" Roy and Riza screamed as they ducked for cover behind Aiko.

"My word" Aiko muttered, "This will take a while to figure out"

"And I can sense some people will be in trouble by the end of it all" Ellen and Judith added in unison.

THE END


End file.
